Improvement in crushing-rollers for sugar-mills



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

PIIILETUS W. GATES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, THOS. CHALMERS, AND D. B. FRASER.

IMPROVEMENT IN CRUSHING-ROLLERS FOR SUGAR-MILLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 27,863, dated April 10, 1860.

To all whom t may concern,

Be it known that I, PnILErUs W. GATES, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sugar-Mills, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure l represents a top view of the niachine, the top plate, I, being taken off; Fig. 2, a vertical section through the axes of the rollers A and B; Fig. 3, a similar section through the axes of the rollers A and A', Fig. 4, a cross-section on a plane at right angles to the axes of the rollers.

Similar letters of reference in each of the several iigures indicate corresponding parts.

The nature of my invention consists in making a portion of the surface of the rollers concave circumferentially.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The rollers used heretofore in sugar-cane mills have perfectly cylindric surfaces, the disadvantage of which is that the cane is apt to slip down between the crushing-cylinders or rollers in consequence of its being wet and slippery. The smaller cane is also apt to be crowded toward the ends of the rollers by the bigger cane, which is perfectly crushed, while the smaller cane is but partially or not at all crushed, and frequently escapes at the ends of the rollers, crowds around their hubs, and impedes the easy working of the rollers. To overcome these difficulties is the principal object of my invention.

. I construct the rollers hollow, with holes c in their tops for removing the core after the rollers have been cast. These rollers A A B are each provided with ahub, t' imm l Z', at each end, and a flange, a c b, at one end. The surface of each roller is only partially cylindric at the ends, from 1 to 2 and from 3 to 4; but the surface between 2 and 3, or the middle portion of the surface, is indented or concave. The axles C C D of the rollers are arranged at proper distances from each other, so that the cane may be passed in over the platforms R S, (arranged at the bottom of the rollers,) be crushed between the surfaces of rollers B C and B C and pass out between rollers A A. The arrows f giudicate the'direction in which the cane is introduced, and

the arrow h shows the way it passes out. The

axles of the rollers pass through holes in the top plate, I, and bottom plate, E, of the machine-frame, the holes in the bottom plate, E, being somewhat larger than the diameters of the axles. The rollers are' permanently fastened to their axles at the hubs i im mZ Z',

and the lower surfaces of the bottom hubs, t" m Z, are a little above the upper surface of the bottoml plate, E, so as to leave an open space, e. The upper ends of the axles are held in bearings L M K, attached to the top plate, I, of the frame, while the lower ends of the axles stand in boxes n o p, arranged on the under surface of the frame-bottom E. A circular rim, d, projecting from the upper surface ofthe frame-bottom E, forms a receptacle around the hubs and bearings at the lower end of the rollers. Standards F G H their proper relative positionand no portion of the cane introduced between the rollers can escape at the ends of the rollers and crowd around the hubs and bearings of the axles. The bigger cane will be crushed in the somewhat wider open space between the concave portion of the surface of the rollers, while the smaller cane, which nds its way toward the roller ends, on account of its smaller size and slippery nature, will also be properly crushed in the somewhat narrower space between the cylindrie portions of the surface of the rollers. The juice expressed from the cane gathers in the receptacle d, finds its way through the small open spaces e, underneath the hubs t' m l, and around the axles, through the holes in the bottom plate, E, into the boxes n o p, serving as an excellent lubricator.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Making a portion of the surface of the roll ers A A B concave circumferentially, substan tially as and for the purposes set forth.

PHILETUS W. GATES.

NVitnesses:

JAs. W. SoovILLE, J. L. FARGQ. 

